The Book Stall is ready to turn the page

Roberta Rubin, owner of The Book Stall at Chestnut Court

Keri Wiginton

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court owner Roberta Rubin is pictured in the original book stall her store was named after in Winnetka, Ill., on Thursday, April 5, 2012. The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, which Rubin has owned for 30 years, is the Publishers Weekly '"Bookstore of the Year." Rubin will accept the award at the American Booksellers Association's annual BookExpo America in New York City on June, 5, 2012.

The Book Stall at Chestnut Court owner Roberta Rubin is pictured in the original book stall her store was named after in Winnetka, Ill., on Thursday, April 5, 2012. The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, which Rubin has owned for 30 years, is the Publishers Weekly '"Bookstore of the Year." Rubin will accept the award at the American Booksellers Association's annual BookExpo America in New York City on June, 5, 2012. (Keri Wiginton)

As the nation's independent bookstores fight for their lives in the bare-knuckle scrum that is modern publishing commerce, all eyes are on Winnetka.

"Oh yes," said Oren Teicher, CEO of the American Bookseller's Association. "I am very, very aware of the Book Stall."

It isn't because he worked there one Christmas, part of an annual tour of member stores he does every year. And it isn't because the impending retirement of store owner Roberta Rubin was written up in Publishers Weekly magazine earlier this year.

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It is because the recent history of independent bookstores is dotted with great shops that faded away when their owners called it quits. Both Teicher and Rubin are confident that won't happen here. Still, the chapter they are hoping for hasn't been written yet.

And the endings in other towns haven't always been happy.

Rubin, who has owned the store for 30 years, said she's in conversation with three prospective buyers and is confident one will be able to close the deal. But that doesn't mean there isn't a sense of trepidation, fear that this literary anchor might turn into another empty store.

Mike Leonard, a Winnetka resident and regular contributor to NBC's "Today Show," said he has traveled all over the country and seen more than his share of failing local businesses, including independent bookstores.

"The ones that are viable, and work, seem to have a heart and a soul," said Leonard, who recently wrote an appreciation of the Book Stall for the book "My Bookstore." "You walk by, and there's a sense that you just want to walk in there, look around and say hello."

Leonard said he can't imagine downtown Winnetka without the Book Stall.

The same could certainly be said for downtown Menlo Park, Calif., where local residents were so unhappy over the impending closure of their local bookstore that they have ponied up money to help keep it open. The rebirth of Kepler's Books as a hybrid, partially nonprofit, community supported enterprise is one solution the industry is keeping a close eye on.

Kepler's has been a Silicon Valley literary fixture since before it was the Silicon Valley. But the owner, like Rubin, has been pushing to retire for several years. A traditional buyer couldn't be found. Local residents reached out to Praveen Madan and Christin Evans, a husband-and-wife team who left the world of corporate consulting to follow their passion for books six years ago. They first took over the Booksmith, in San Francisco. And their success at keeping that store afloat led fans of Kepler's to approach them, Madan said.

The result is a hybrid entity — one part semitraditional bookstore, one part community-led nonprofit. Madan said he and his wife own the core bookselling operation, having financed the purchase with a combination of donations and loans from the community. They are formed as a "flexible purpose corporation," a new designation created in California for companies "with a social mission," Madan said.

The second part of the store, used for literary events, readings, classes and other community gatherings, is established as a nonprofit.

"Our belief is that the bookstores that survive will be the ones that transform themselves into a structure that allows them to support the community's cultural and literary missions," Madan said. "Bookstores that just rely on being places to buy books aren't going to make it."

Rubin isn't so sure. While careful not to criticize the Kepler's model, saying all communities are unique and "maybe it can work in a place like California," she said a passionate owner is the key to success at the Book Stall.

"It's not as much about making money as it is about staying afloat," she said. "That's part of the passion of owning an independent bookstore. "I love the written word. I love the thoughts of good writers. I love to read good writing, and I like to put it all in your hands."

Rubin said her store made money last year, after four years in the red. Over the course of 30 years as owner, she said, she's made money more often than she's lost it. Still, it's not a business for someone looking to make their fortune.

Teicher said he doesn't think a person like Rubin can truly be replaced. But he believes a new owner will be found who can carry on the store's success.

"I am absolutely 100 percent sure that it will continue," he said of the Book Stall. "It will be different. There will be changes. Independent bookstores tend to take on the personality of their owners. But there is more than ample population in that area to support the store."

Teicher said that experiments like Kepler's are part and parcel of the independent bookstore community.

"What makes independent bookstores what they are is that they are all unique," he said.

Teicher added that the outlook for this business sector is not as bleak as it might seem. Revenues in the stores of his nearly 1,600 members are up about 12 percent over last year, he said. Much of this is probably attributable to the loss of Borders. But the period of declining ABA membership reversed several years ago, he said. From the mid-1990s to about 2005, the number of independent bookstores dropped to about 1,300 companies operating about 1,700 locations, Teicher said, a drop he attributed to big-box book retailers like Borders, Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart, and the advent of Amazon. Now, nearly 1,600 companies operating 2,200 locations make up the ABA.

"It's tough. Let's be clear about that," he said. "Books are now being sold everywhere, and they are being sold in every format everywhere. But the broad gloom and doom story is just not true."

Rubin said tapping into the community, especially schools and book clubs, is the key. And she's also not afraid of the Big Bad Wolf of the bookselling business, the e-reader, offering old-fashioned observational common sense to explain her confidence. She recalled a recent plane trip.

"I noticed that the people reading the e-books didn't stay with them for the whole trip," she said.

She's equally optimistic about the future of her beloved store, even after she recites all the obstacles bookstore owners face these days. Asked if she thought the Book Stall would still be around 20 years from now, she didn't hesitate.

"I do," she said. "I sure do. It will be if we keep that positive outlook and vision about books. It might be here in a different form. But it will be here."

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